Posthumanism

Posthumanism or post-humanism (meaning "after humanism" or "beyond humanism") is an idea in continental philosophy and critical theory responding to the presence of anthropocentrism in 21st-century thought.^[1] Posthumanization comprises "those processes by which a society comes to include members other than 'natural' biological human beings who, in one way or another, contribute to the structures, dynamics, or meaning of the society."^[2]

It encompasses a wide variety of branches, including:

Antihumanism: a branch of theory that is critical of traditional humanism and traditional ideas about the human condition, vitality and agency.^[3]
Cultural posthumanism: A branch of cultural theory critical of the foundational assumptions of humanism and its legacy^[4] that examines and questions the historical notions of "human" and "human nature", often challenging typical notions of human subjectivity and embodiment^[5] and strives to move beyond "archaic" concepts of "human nature" to develop ones which constantly adapt to contemporary technoscientific knowledge.^[6]
Philosophical posthumanism: A philosophical direction^[7] that draws on cultural posthumanism, the philosophical strand examines the ethical implications of expanding the circle of moral concern and extending subjectivities beyond the human species.^[5]^[8]
Posthuman condition: The deconstruction of the human condition by critical theorists.^[9]
Existential posthumanism: it embraces posthumanism as a praxis of existence.^[10] Its sources are drawn from non-dualistic global philosophies, such as Advaita Vedanta, Taoism and Zen Buddhism, the philosophies of Yoga,^[11] continental existentialism, native epistemologies and Sufism, among others. It examines and challenges hegemonic notions of being "human" by delving into the history of embodied practices of being human and, thus, expanding the reflection on human nature.
Posthuman transhumanism: A transhuman ideology and movement which, drawing from posthumanist philosophy, seeks to develop and make available technologies that enable immortality and greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities in order to achieve a "posthuman future".^[12]
AI takeover: A variant of transhumanism in which humans will not be enhanced, but rather eventually replaced by artificial intelligences. Some philosophers and theorists, including Nick Land, promote the view that humans should embrace and accept their eventual demise as a consequence of a technological singularity.^[13] This is related to the view of "cosmism", which supports the building of strong artificial intelligence even if it may entail the end of humanity, as in their view it "would be a cosmic tragedy if humanity freezes evolution at the puny human level".^[14]^[15]^[16]
Voluntary human extinction: Seeks a "posthuman future" that in this case is a future without humans.^[17]

^ Ferrando, Francesca (2013). "Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations" (PDF). Existenz. ISSN 1932-1066. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
^ Gladden, Matthew (2018). Sapient Circuits and Digitalized Flesh: The Organization as Locus of Technological Posthumanization (PDF) (second ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Defragmenter Media. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-944373-21-4. Retrieved March 14, 2018. Elsewhere (p. 35) in the same text Gladden proposes a longer definition, stating that "The processes of posthumanization are those dynamics by which a society comes to include members other than 'natural' biological human beings who, in one way or another, contribute to the structures, activities, or meaning of the society. In this way, a society comes to incorporate a diverse range of intelligent human, non-human, and para-human social actors who seek to perceive, interpret, and influence their shared environment and who create knowledge and meaning through their networks and interactions."
^ J. Childers/G. Hentzi eds., The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism (1995) p. 140-1
^ Esposito, Roberto (2011). "Politics and human nature". Angelaki. 16 (3): 77–84. doi:10.1080/0969725X.2011.621222.
^ ^a ^b Miah, A. (2008) A Critical History of Posthumanism. In Gordijn, B. & Chadwick R. (2008) Medical Enhancement and Posthumanity. Springer, pp.71-94.
^ Badmington, Neil (2000). Posthumanism (Readers in Cultural Criticism). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-76538-8.
^ Ferrando, Francesca (2019-06-27). Philosophical Posthumanism. Bloomsbury Reference Online. ISBN 9781350059498. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
^ Morton, Timothy, 1968 (9 March 2018). Being ecological. Cambridge, Massachusetts. ISBN 978-0-262-03804-1. OCLC 1004183444.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ Hayles, N. Katherine (1999). How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-32146-2.
^ Ferrando, Francesca (2024-02-14). The Art of BeingPosthuman. Polity. ISBN 9781509548965. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
^ Banerji, Debashish (2021). "Traditions of Yoga in Existential Posthuman Praxis". Journal of Posthumanism. 1 (2): 1–6. doi:10.33182/jp.v1i2.1777.
^ Bostrom, Nick (2005). "A history of transhumanist thought" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-02-21. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Oliver Krüger: Virtual Immortality. God, Evolution, and the Singularity in Post- and Transhumanism., Bielefeld: transcript 2021
^ "The Darkness Before the Right". Archived from the original on 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
^ Hugo de Garis (2002). "First shot in Artilect war fired". Archived from the original on 17 October 2007.
^ "Machines Like Us interviews: Hugo de Garis". 3 September 2007. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007. gigadeath – the characteristic number of people that would be killed in any major late 21st century war, if one extrapolates up the graph of the number of people killed in major wars over the past 2 centuries
^ Garis, Hugo de. "The Artilect War - Cosmists vs. Terrans" (PDF). agi-conf.org. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
^ Torres, Phil (12 September 2017). Morality, foresight, and human flourishing : an introduction to existential risks. Durham, North Carolina. ISBN 978-1-63431-143-4. OCLC 1002065011.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[Ferrando_2013-1] Ferrando, Francesca (2013). "Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations" (PDF). Existenz. ISSN 1932-1066. Retrieved 2014-03-14.

[Gladden_2018_def-2] Gladden, Matthew (2018). Sapient Circuits and Digitalized Flesh: The Organization as Locus of Technological Posthumanization (PDF) (second ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Defragmenter Media. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-944373-21-4. Retrieved March 14, 2018. Elsewhere (p. 35) in the same text Gladden proposes a longer definition, stating that "The processes of posthumanization are those dynamics by which a society comes to include members other than 'natural' biological human beings who, in one way or another, contribute to the structures, activities, or meaning of the society. In this way, a society comes to incorporate a diverse range of intelligent human, non-human, and para-human social actors who seek to perceive, interpret, and influence their shared environment and who create knowledge and meaning through their networks and interactions."

[3] J. Childers/G. Hentzi eds., The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism (1995) p. 140-1

[Esposito_2011-4] Esposito, Roberto (2011). "Politics and human nature". Angelaki. 16 (3): 77–84. doi:10.1080/0969725X.2011.621222.

[miah-5] Miah, A. (2008) A Critical History of Posthumanism. In Gordijn, B. & Chadwick R. (2008) Medical Enhancement and Posthumanity. Springer, pp.71-94.

[Badmington_2000-6] Badmington, Neil (2000). Posthumanism (Readers in Cultural Criticism). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-76538-8.

[7] Ferrando, Francesca (2019-06-27). Philosophical Posthumanism. Bloomsbury Reference Online. ISBN 9781350059498. Retrieved 18 December 2019.

[8] Morton, Timothy, 1968 (9 March 2018). Being ecological. Cambridge, Massachusetts. ISBN 978-0-262-03804-1. OCLC 1004183444.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

[Hayles_1999-9] Hayles, N. Katherine (1999). How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-32146-2.

[10] Ferrando, Francesca (2024-02-14). The Art of BeingPosthuman. Polity. ISBN 9781509548965. Retrieved 25 April 2024.

[Banerji_2021-11] Banerji, Debashish (2021). "Traditions of Yoga in Existential Posthuman Praxis". Journal of Posthumanism. 1 (2): 1–6. doi:10.33182/jp.v1i2.1777.

[Bostrom_2005-12] Bostrom, Nick (2005). "A history of transhumanist thought" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-02-21. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Oliver Krüger: Virtual Immortality. God, Evolution, and the Singularity in Post- and Transhumanism., Bielefeld: transcript 2021

[darkright-13] "The Darkness Before the Right". Archived from the original on 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2015-11-28.

[14] Hugo de Garis (2002). "First shot in Artilect war fired". Archived from the original on 17 October 2007.

[15] "Machines Like Us interviews: Hugo de Garis". 3 September 2007. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007. gigadeath – the characteristic number of people that would be killed in any major late 21st century war, if one extrapolates up the graph of the number of people killed in major wars over the past 2 centuries

[artiwar-16] Garis, Hugo de. "The Artilect War - Cosmists vs. Terrans" (PDF). agi-conf.org. Retrieved 14 June 2015.

[17] Torres, Phil (12 September 2017). Morality, foresight, and human flourishing : an introduction to existential risks. Durham, North Carolina. ISBN 978-1-63431-143-4. OCLC 1002065011.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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